Search Results for: general aviation inc

Self-service avgas at my home airport is now $5.65 a gallon. And it promises to go higher with the next delivery from the fuel supplier. Suddenly, the cost of fuel is a much larger portion of my operating costs. I’ve been running lean of peak so the Lycoming IO-360 in my Cessna Cardinal runs at […]

Last month in this space, I wrote about the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and its proposed rule to expand airline-style security measures to private (i.e., Part 91) operations of aircraft weighing more than 12,500 pounds. The new proposal was formally released October 30, 2008. The proposed rule would require operators to assign a security director to oversee flight operations, obtain TSA approval for a security program addressing every operation of the aircraft, submit fingerprints of all flight-crew members and seek government approval of each passenger for each flight. A copy of the full, 67-page proposal is available in PDF format at this address: tinyurl.com/5nxn55. General aviations alphabet soup is expressing strong opposition to the proposal. Both AOPA and NBAA formally requested a comment-period extension, to 120 days, which the TSA granted. The new deadline is February 27, 2009.

Takeoff and initial climb accidents are 10 times more deadly than landing accidents, according to the AOPA Air Safety Foundation (ASF) presentation “Mastering Takeoffs and Landings.” And, when you think about it, the ASFs numbers make sense. After all, during a takeoff, the airplane is as heavy as it will be for that flight, youre accelerating, not slowing as when landing, and you arent accustomed to the wind or the airplanes loading, among other factors. If in fact takeoffs are so potentially fatal, its worthwhile to discover how to detect when a takeoff or “first-stage” climbout is going bad and, if needed, how to safely abort it before joining the NTSB tally. What clues do we have to a takeoff anomaly, and how can we safely abort a takeoff when things arent going right? Im in favor of letting the student do everything possible on the first lesson, but the relative ease at which we launch into the air-at least compared to what it takes to learn to land-might make us complacent about critically observing our takeoffs. After all, when turned into the wind and the powers brought up, were thinking about the flight ahead, or perhaps focused on an initial heading or altitude restriction. It takes a lot of discipline to be thinking about the takeoff itself.

At times during my training it often seemed the phrase most often uttered by the instructor was, “Watch your airspeed,” or its more-assertive variant, “Mind your speed.” If I didnt respond immediately, he continued his urgings, which usually escalating in volume and octave. That I eventually figured it out is evidenced by a piece of FAA paper in my pocket. And that was just the primary training. In talks with other many fellow aviators, we found a shared memory of instrument instructors who seemed almost sadistic in their ability to distract us with airspeed warnings when all we wanted to do was center the needles or roll out on the correct heading. We all recalled the endless grilling as our instructors drilled us on our ability to quote, hit and hold target speeds. Of course, by the time wed hit instrument training, we all understood and absorbed the message-one which remains clear as crystal years later: Managing all of the multiple, simultaneous demands of flying becomes considerably easier once I could instinctively and automatically manage power and pitch to achieve the correct airspeed for each condition.

According to the latest report from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, increases in shipments of jets (up 30.1 percent) and turboprops (up 13.7 percent) put 2008 figures for the first three quarters up by 2 percent compared with the same nine-month period last year. The gains in sales of turbine-powered aircraft offset a drop of […]

This year’s forward-looking report from the FAA puts much of its emphasis on advancing safety and improving airspace capacity. Though understandably weighted heavily toward airline issues, the report includes information on initiatives vital to general aviation pilots, as well. For example, under the heading of ‘Safety’ the second topic identified is improving the general aviation […]

Last Tuesday, at the Dassault Falcon Jet hangar at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, aviation industry representatives met with New Jersey politicians and representatives of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to celebrate the fruits of a unique effort. Two years ago, a group of Teterboro Airport users, FBOs and local residents’ […]

With prices for automotive gas plunging at the pump, pilots might be forgiven their impatience with prices they are continuing to pay for aviation fuel — be it 100LL or jet-A. But it’s not necessarily price gouging by the FBO. The volume of general aviation fuel produced and sold represents a tiny drop in the […]

Cirrus Design has reacted to slumping sales by lowering its production rate to three aircraft per day from four per day. The Duluth, Minnesota, manufacturer also expects to cut back to a three-day week for at least some of the remainder of this year, though Cirrus would re-up the per-day rate to four under that […]

I awoke early on a beautiful October Thursday morning. I had been planning to fly from Big Piney, Wyoming, (KBPI) to Meridian, Mississippi, (MEI) to pick up my brother, Darren. I had recently purchased a Bonanza A-36 and Darren was going to take my G-35 V-tail back to Mississippi. I arrived at the airport about […]